Interviews Archives | Otaku No Culture

Keeping the Theatrical Spark Alive, An Interview with Ira Cooper, Artistic Director of Spec Theatre

A lively chat with Spec Theatre’s Ira Cooper on collaboration, community, and The Strange Hour—a 19+ brunch variety show uniting wrestlers, burlesque, comics, and more. Victoria’s shrinking venues meet DIY spirit, and the result is electric.

Ira Cooper and The Strange Hour Ira Cooper is the artistic director and founder of Spec Theatre, a small but mighty independent collective that’s relatively new to the local city scene. But for this individual, who spent the past decade honing his craft far and wide, what he offers with The Strange Hour live-action theatrical variety show is a safe space for talents from various sub-disciplines to interact with audiences, and show them why their craft matters.

When asked about how he likes to describe himself, he says he’s a self-described white settler with Jewish and Eastern European roots. After a hearty chuckle, he revealed he wanted to craft a company grounded in humour, collaboration, and community connection. As a local Fringe theatre artist, he knows what’s important. He’s also said that his appreciation developed even when he was a wee lad—ever since his mother first enrolled him in acting classes at five.

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(Re)introducing Casey Walker. From A Little Bit Zombie to Ithaqua, What Can We Expect?

Although there isn’t a lot of new updates on Hammer Films’ upcoming horror feature Ithaqua, directed by Casey Walker, this work is still labelled currently in production, and we revisit this filmmaker’s past work in A Little Bit Zombie.

Casey Walker Filmmaker When websites I’ve contributed to in the past go offline, it’s time to resurrect and update some of those favourite pieces here. More than 10 years ago, I discovered A Little Bit Zombie (ALBZ) by an up-and-coming filmmaker, Casey Walker. Since then, he produced The Void, an excellent Lovecraftian-style movie, and directed a few episodes of The Hardy Boys.

In his latest work, he’s reworking a tale based on the Ithaqua indigenous legend. This film stars Luke Hemsworth, Kevin Durand, and Michael Pitt. A lot has changed since it was first announced. The website Upcoming Horror Movies suggests it may debut late 2025 or next year. At the time of writing, all we know is that Hammer Films picked up the rights.

According to HollywoodNorthbuzz.com, the story is as follows:

Cole Franklin, an American mercenary, is recruited as a hired gun and guide at the remote outpost of Fort William, which is struggling to survive the decline of the fur trade. With dwindling supplies, the keepers of the Fort blackmail Cole into leading a trading party to a nearby Indigenous village where they discover a massacre and encounter the remaining half-crazed inhabitants for the bloodshed.

Though the trading party survives with minimal losses and returns to the Fort with a bonanza of food and furs, the supernatural force responsible for the carnage follows them back. As the casualties stack up, it becomes evident that something unnatural is driving the residents insane with murderous hunger. The rag-tag band of survivors forces Cole to put his military expertise to use in organizing their last stand against what can only be described as some kind of madness.

Although I haven’t found further updates since this announcement, I’ll share more information as it becomes available. In the meantime, please enjoy this interview I conducted when he and the cast came to town! This film made its worldwide debut at the Victoria Film Festival. Interview follows:

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Getting Behind the Scenes on 31 Iguana’s Spectacular High Moon, An Interview

The best thing about 31 Iguana’s High Moon is that everyone is excited in taking a bite to revive Victoria, BC’s Halloween Scene!

To buy advance tickets, please visit https://31-iguanas.tickit.ca/

The Giggling Iguana is back and is now known as 31 Iguanas. It’s a wonderful merger with Outpost 31 as the creative minds behind these two local theatre companies aim to bring more pop culture into the scene. Their first production was Welcome to Croglin at the Victoria Fringe Festival, and now they’re organizing site-specific works, like High Moon: A Werewolf Western!

In the past, Ian Case‘s Halloween-themed productions at Craigdarroch Castle were very well received. He knew how to deliver atmosphere. They helped make productions like The Fall of the House of Usher and Dracula: The Blood is the Life sing. Also, when the weather cooperated, spooky moments like witnessing the narrator emerge from the fog were unforgettable. But his work is not limited to just putting on local productions. He’s also performed, represented and managed other acts. After receiving a job offer at the University of Victoria’s Farquhar Auditorium, he shifted gears.

David Elendune is equally prolific as a writer and producer and is well known on the island and off. His works are often a part of the Victoria Fringe Festival and most of his plays are available to license online for other groups to perform. Good Night Uncle Joe is a play that, he says that refuses to die. He said, “It pops up often. Even my take on Winnie the Pooh was produced and staged in the States.”

When I met up with the two, I asked how they first made contact and decide to collaberate?

DE: Janet Munsil is to blame. Years ago, I took a playwriting course when Ian ran Intrepid Theatre. I wrote a Sherlock Holmes pastiche called Bucket Full of Bees, which eventually became Sherlock Holmes and the Curse of Moriarty. Janet suggested Ian read it, and we had to meet.

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Updates on What the Astronots Are Up To

Until a feature length film finally gets off the ground (pardoning the pun), the short film AstroNots is ready to launch on streaming platforms.

AstroNots is finally landing after playing at twenty more film festivals worldwide! Anyone who has not seen this hilarious short film at their local event or Fantasia Film Festival 2024 can now stream it through Film Shortage, beginning June 23, 2025. When I interviewed the creative team last year, producer Andrew Seaton said they want to make a feature film length version of this film. Although not much has progressed since, he confirmed writers Adam Dunn and Aaron Glenane are working hard on putting a script together.

He said, “We are excited about the prospect of taking these characters and their unique dynamic even further. What we love is that we have an odd couple road-trip movie, set in space. Something truly hilarious and unique.”

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All The Scary Details You May Want To Know About Vampire Zombies From Space with Michael Stasko

In part two, fans might want to be careful in what gets revealed concerning all those Easter eggs that can be found in Vampire Zombies From Space.

Mike Stasko - WRITER_DIRECTOR_PRODUCER When Mike Stasko makes up one third of the core team who helped fine tune what Vampire Zombies From Space is, I’m really hoping for more! His latest film is almost similar to Casey Walker’s A Little Bit Zombie, a movie made more than a decade ago. Both deal with how victims eventually become a member of the walking dead, and to find a cure is rarely explored. I will post an old interview I did with him and include updates regarding his next horror movie, which is currently in post-production. And please visit this link to read part one with writer Jakob Skrzypa.

While the circumstances are completely different between these two particular films, I’m a sucker for zombie comedies. It’s a subgenre that gets a movie made at least once every two years, but not a lot of them stand out because they lack originality. The last time I laughed out loud was with Anna and the Apocalypse! The fact that it’s also a musical says it all.

There are honestly not enough movies being made that marry random genres together. I have to say it was by sheer luck that this movie and Night of the Zoopocalypse released nearly back to back. The dose of nostalgia and euphoria I had was on cloud nine. Afterwards, I had to fall back to the animated medium to rewatch Monsters vs Aliens to round out what I feel are in my top five favourites of this subgenre.

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When Vampire Zombies From Space is Too Delicious Not To Miss. An Interview with Jakob Skrzypa.

As Vampire Zombies from Space continues to tour film festivals this year, the producers hope word of mouth will encourage others to see this fun campy film. After Horror Hound and the Great Canadian Film Fest, it’s sure to gain cult status in no time!

In what’s fang-tastic about Canadian styled science fiction cinema is that fans don’t know what to expect. With Vampire Zombies from Space, Jakob Skrzypa dreamed up more than just another satire about an alien invasion from terrors birthed from Western European and Haitian folklore. Although ancient alien conspiracists may say otherwise, it’s safe to say in our world, they have earthly origins!

This comedian, actor and producer has a wicked sense of humour to which those familiar with the works from the Toronto sketch comedy duo Fun Uncle (YouTube Channel) will recognize. And for those who haven’t seen his works before, there’s a good chance they’ll want to investigate his back catalogue of works! Continue reading “When Vampire Zombies From Space is Too Delicious Not To Miss. An Interview with Jakob Skrzypa.”